The Stories of Jorge Luis Borges
Descubre los mejores cuentos de Jorge Luis Borges, autor de relatos clásicos de la literatura Latinoamericana. Lee sus cuentos completos en línea o imprímelos en PDF.
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges: Funes, His Memory
“Funes, His Memory” (Funes el memorioso) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, first published in June 1942 in the newspaper La Nación, and later included in the book Ficciones (1944). It recounts the story of Ireneo Funes, a young man who, after an accident, acquires a prodigious memory: he can recall every detail of his life and surroundings with absolute precision. The narrator, an alter ego of Borges, reflects on the implications of this ability. Far from turning Funes into a sage, his perfect memory renders him incapable of abstraction or generalization, trapping him in a world of overwhelming details. Borges thus offers a profound meditation on the limits of knowledge and memory, suggesting that forgetting, to a certain extent, is necessary in order to think and to live.
Jorge Luis Borges: A Weary Man’s Utopia
“A Weary Man’s Utopia” (Utopía de un hombre que está cansado), a short story by Jorge Luis Borges published in 1975 in the collection The Book of Sand, is a lyrical tale with deep philosophical roots that recounts the encounter between a twentieth-century man and an inhabitant of the future. The protagonist, Eudoro Acevedo, arrives at a house where he is received by a tall man dressed in gray. During their conversation in Latin, the host reveals an apparently utopian world, without governments, cities, or material possessions. Humanity has abolished the printing press, and each individual creates his own science and art. The inhabitants live in solitude and exercise complete control over their own life and death.
Jorge Luis Borges: Three Versions of Judas. Summary and analysis
In “Three Versions of Judas” (Tres versiones de Judas), Jorge Luis Borges tells the story of Nils Runeberg, a fictional Swedish theologian who devotes his life to studying the figure of Judas Iscariot. In his works, Runeberg develops a series of theories that radically reinterpret Judas’ betrayal, first claiming that his act was a necessary sacrifice in the divine plan and, finally, that Judas was an incarnation of God. As he delves deeper into his thinking, Runeberg moves away from religious orthodoxy, is condemned by theologians, and ends up in tormented isolation. His last work, ignored by all, argues that God’s sacrifice had to be absolute, including infamy and eternal damnation, and that this is why he decided to be Judas. Convinced that he has revealed a divine secret that should not be known, Runeberg goes mad and dies alone after wandering the streets of Malmö.
Jorge Luis Borges: The Interloper. Summary and analysis
The Interloper (La intrusa) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, published in 1970 in the book El informe de Brodie. It tells the story of the Nilsen brothers, rough and lonely men who live together in an isolated house in Turdera. Their life changes when Cristián brings Juliana to live with them, a woman whose presence threatens to disrupt life in the home. The story describes with realism and rawness how the bonds between the brothers begin to change as a silent rivalry grows between them.
Jorge Luis Borges: The Interloper
The Interloper (La intrusa) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, published in 1970 in the book El informe de Brodie. The story is set in Turdera, a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and narrates the life of two brothers, Cristián and Eduardo Nilsen, rough cattle drivers united by violence, pride and a strange loyalty. Their bond begins to strain when a woman, Juliana Burgos, enters their lives and upsets the balance that kept them together. A story with a sordid history that portrays life in the Argentine countryside at a time when women were nothing more than objects.